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Big savings as councils switch lights

A PROJECT to install LED streetlights across seven council areas in the New England has been completed, and the energy savings are already beating the initial forecasts.

Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) chairman Russell Stewart said despite the project being “quite complex”, it had been completed on time and on budget.

The project delivered the first broadscale rollout of LED streetlight technology in regional NSW, with more than 5000 lights replaced by Essential Energy in Armidale Dumaresq, Glen Innes Severn, Guyra, Gwydir, Inverell, Tenterfield and Walcha local government areas.

The Northern Lights project received $576,000 in funding from the federal government to assist councils with the capital cost of the new lights.

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage also provided funding for the services of a lighting expert to assist in project development.

RDANI senior project officer David Thompson, who co-ordinated the project, said LED streetlights consumed far less energy, at about 24 watts each, and replaced existing high-energy lights that consumed between 50 and 100 watts.

“At the outset, we estimated participating councils would save in excess of $200,000 per year and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1000 tonnes of CO2 per year,” he said.

“Having analysed and compared the seven councils’ streetlight power bills from January 2015 and January 2016, we can now see that participating councils have cut energy and maintenance costs by a combined $400,000 per year.

“The cost-benefits of this project are also beyond expectations, with an average pay-back period of 1.8 years.”

The Northern Lights project also delivered energy efficiency education, with Peter Stanley employed as an education officer to travel the region with information on how households and businesses could cut their energy costs.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.